Open Journal of Marine Science, 2011, 3, 108-112
doi:10.4236/ojms.2011.13011 Published Online October 2011 (http://www.SciRP.org/journal/ojms)
Contents and Distribution of Petroleum Hydrocarbons
(PHC) in Jiaozhou Bay Waters
Dongfang Yang1,2,3, Youchi Zhang1, Jie Zou1, Qing Zhou 1, Hailing Yang1
1North China Sea Environmental Monitoring Center, SOA, Qingdao, China
2Shandong Provincial Key Laboratory of Marine Ecology and Environment & Disaster Prevention and Mitigation,
Qingdao, China
3College of Marine Science, Zhejiang Ocean University, Zhoushan, China
Received July 24, 2011; revised August 18, 2011; accepted September 11, 2011
Abstract
Based on data from the investigation in Jiaozhou bay waters in 1979, the distribution, pollution source and
seasonal variation of PHC in Jiaozhou Bay are analyzed. It is showed that in Jiaozhou bay PHC contents ar-
rived the national Category of the water quality standard during this year. In summer in the bay the pollⅡu-
tion of PHC was heavy, while relatively light in spring. In the coastal waters in the east and the northeast of
the bay, the PHC contents in spring surpassed the national Category , and surpassed the national Category Ⅱ
Ⅲ. In the coastal waters, in the northeast of the bay, the change of the PHC contents formed the grads: the
contents presented the falling trend from the big one to the small, which unveiled that the PHC souce in the
bay mainly came from the discharge of the industrial waste water and living sewage.
Keywords: Petroleum Hydrocarbons (PHC), Distribution, Content, Source, Jiaozhou Bay
1. Introduction
Marine oil pollution has become the most serious and
public-interested marine event, which cause serious da-
mage to the marine and coastal environment. The pro-
duction of the oil has been increasing every year. Accor-
ding to the estimate, in 1970 the production was 22 mil-
lions, while in the 1990 the production reached to 30
millions [1], lots of oily wastewater, oil pollution, and
some other industrial effluent and the living water has
been discharged into the ocean, which polluted the land
as well as the coastal waters [2,3]. So, studying the con-
tamination of petroleum hydrocarbons (PHC) in the
coastal waters is very important to improve coastal envi-
ronment and to restore the sustainable ecological devel-
opment.
In this paper, based on the PHC data in 1979, we dis-
cussed the source, distribution and the transfer process of
PHC, and studied the distribution characteristics and the
seasonal change of the PHC which provided the theoretic
basis for the control and restoration of the environment
of the PHC pollution.
Jiaozhou Bay is a semi-closed natural inland bay, lo-
cated in the central of Yellow Sea, south of Shandong
Peninsula, between longitude 120°04' - 120°23' and lati-
tude 35°58' - 36°18', its depth is shallow (average depth
of 7 m), the bay mouth is narrow (about 2.5 km), and the
time of completing the seawater exchange in the Jiao-
zhou bay is about 15 days [4-6]. In the eastern and
northeastern coast of the Jiaozhou bay there is the Qing-
dao’s industrial-intensive area. There are some main riv-
ers such as Yang River and Dagu River into the Jiaozhou
bay. In the east of the bay, Haibo, Licun and Lou Rivers
with a lot of industrial and domestic waste water into the
bay brings a lot of pollutant, causing the damage of the
bay environment.
2. Material and Method
The data used here were recorded in May and August in
1979 by the North China Sea Environmental Monitoring
Center, SOA, in eight stations: H34, H35, H36, H37,
H38, H39, H40, and H41 (Figure 1). Water samples
were collected according to the depth of water (if more
than 15 m, collect surface layer and bottom layer; if less
than 15 m, only collect surface layer). In the investiga-
tion and sampling, 500 ml seawater of surface layer was
collected by non-oil glass hydrophore for petroleum hy-
drocarbon analysis and then 1:3 H2SO4 solution was
added in the sample immediately, and adjusted the sam

D. F. YANG ET AL. 109
Figure 1. Investigation sites in Jiaozhou Bay.
ple to weak acid (Ph ≈ 4), and then extracted it twice
with 0.01m3 petroleum ether and stored it at (5 ± 2)℃
away from light. In the lab 751 GD ultraviolet spectro-
photo- meter was used to mensurate oil content in water
sample, which was used with the same the method as in
Monitoring Standards of Ocean (GB 17378. 3, 4, 7 - 1998).
3. Results
3.1. Amount of Content
In May, in the surface water in the whole Jiaozhou Bay,
the PHC content ranged from 0.08 to 0.32 mg/L, whose
seawater quality was worse than CategoryⅠ(0.05 mg/L)of
the National Standard of China for Seawater Quality
GB3097－1997(in which 3 categories 1 to 3 are classi-
fied from the best to the worst). Except for station H38,
the seawater quality in the whole waters reached the
CategoryⅡ(0.30 mg/L). The seawater quality only in the
waters of station H38 was worse than the CategoryⅡ
(0.30 mg/L).
In August, the PHC content in the water body increa-
sed distinctly, reaching 0.10 to 1.10 mg/L, whose sea-
water quality in the whole waters was worse than the
CategoryⅠ(0.05 mg/L). Except for station H39, the
seawater quality in the whole waters reached the Category
Ⅱ(0.30 mg/L). Only the seawater quality of station H39
was worse than the Category Ⅲ (0.50 mg/L) (Table 1).
3.2. Horizontal Distribution
In May, in the surface water in the Jiaozhou Bay, the
PHC content decreased from the northeast to the south-
west gradually, declining from 0.32 mg/L to 0.08 mg/L.
In the surface water off the shore between estuaries of
Haibo River and Licun River which were the adjacent
rivers in the east, there was a series of semi-concentric
circles with the center of H38 where PHC was the high-
est (0.32 mg/L), and decreased generally outwards, evi-
dently higher than that in the southwestern waters includ-
ing the center, mouth and outside of the bay (Figure 2).
In summer, the isoline (Figure 3) on the PHC content
in the surface water showed that with station H39 as the
center, a series of semi-concentric circles in different
gradients formed. In the northeast of the Bay there was
the two adjacent rivers of Licun River and Loushan
River, and in the coastal waters between the estuaries of
these two rivers, there was an area with a high content of
Table 1. the surface water quality in Jiaozhou Bay in May
and August.
May August
PHC content in
seawater（mg/L）
The National Standard
of China for Seawater
Quality
0.08 - 0.32
CategoryⅡand Ⅲ
0.10 - 1.10
CategoryⅡandⅢ

D. F. YANG ET AL. 110
Figure 2. PHC distribution at the surface in Jiaozhou Bay in May (mg/L).
Figure 3. PHC distribution at the surface in Jiaozhou Bay in August (mg/L).
PHC. With station H39 as the center, the PHC content
declined from a high content (1.10 mg/L) in the center to
along the gradients. From the coastal waters in the north-
east to the central waters of the Bay, the PHC content d
creased from 1.10 mg/ to 0.10 mg/L. In this way, along
the flowing direction of the Haibo River, Licun

D. F. YANG ET AL.111
River and Loushan River, the PHC content in the water
body in Jiaozhou Bay fell gradually (Figure 3).
3.3. Seasonal Distribution
In spring, in the whole water body of Jiaozhou Bay, the
PHC content range in the surface water was from 0.08
mg/L to 0.32 mg/L, while in summer it was from 0.10
mg/L to 1.10 mg/L, reaching a very high value. At sta-
tions H34 and H40, the minus value between the PHC
contents in August and May were minus, ranging from
–0.02 to –0.01, but the values of other stations were
positive, ranging from 0.01 to 0.91. Station H34 was
located outside of the Bay, while station H40 was in the
northernmost part of the Bay, which demonstrated that in
the surface water body of the Jiaozhou bay, almost all the
PHC content in the surface in summer surpassed that in
spring.
4. Discussion
4.1. Water Quality
In the Jiaozhou Bay waters, the PHC content in spring
reached the CategoryⅡand Ⅲ, so did it in summer. In
addition, in summer, the PHC content in some waters
was far beyond the Category Ⅲ, which indicated that
PHC had seriously polluted the waters. Therefore, in the
whole year, the waters of the Jiaozhou Bay were seri-
ously polluted by PHC in spring, while the pollution was
even more severe in summer.
4.2. Pollution Sources
In the temporal scale, the PHC change in between spring
and summer was taken into consideration. The results
showed that in Jiaozhou bay, almost all the PHC content
in the surface water in summer was higher than that in
spring. Thus, from spring to summer, the PHC content in
the whole waters of the bay increased. In addition, in
spatial scale, the estuaries of Haibo River, Licun River
and Loushan River were in the northeastern waters of
Jiaozhou Bay, and these rivers provided a transport for
the northeastern coastal waters of the bay. Along the
flowing direction of rivers, the change of PHC content
with gradients showed a declining tendency from the
high content to low. In spring, in the coastal waters be-
tween the estuaries of these two rivers, Haibo River and
Licun River, an area with a high PHC content formed; in
summer, in the coastal waters between the estuaries of
the two rivers, Licun River and Loushan River, an area
with a high PHC content also formed. The results indi-
cated that Haibo River, Licun River and Loushan River
in the northeast in Jiaozhou Bay were the main sources
of PHC pollution.
4.3. Transfer Process
In the waters of Jiaozhou bay, the PHC content trans-
fered from the estuary to the outside of the bay.
In the eastern and northeastern coast of the Jiaozhou
bay, there were industry-intensive areas in Qingdao city.
Thus, the industrial wastewater and the domestic sewage
were discharged a lot. There existed three rivers, includ-
ing Haibo River, Licun River and Loushan River along
the eastern and northeastern coast of the Jiaozhou Bay,
which played the function of discharging the industrial
wastewater and the domestic sewage into the Jiaozhou
Bay, bringing a large number of pollutants with PHC
into the bay.
In spring, Haibo River and Licun River run into the
sea in the northeast of the bay, bringing a large amount
of PHC from the land, and leading to serious pollution of
PHC in the eastern and northeastern areas of Jiaozhou
bay. The results revealed that the PHC content was high-
er in the northeastern areas of the Bay, decreasing gradu-
ally towards the southwest. And the PHC content in
spring was comparatively lower in the waters of Jiao-
zhou bay.
In summer, Licun River and Loushan River ran into
the sea from the northeast of the Bay, bringing a large
amount of PHC from the land. At the same time, the riv-
ers in the rainy season resulted in a widespread increase
of PHC content in the whole waters body of Jiaozhou
bay. The results revealed that in summer, the PHC con-
tent began to increase gradually in the eastern and north-
eastern areas of Jiaozhou Bay, and it was higher, de-
creasing gradually towards the southwest. And the PHC
content in summer was comparatively higher in the wa-
ters of Jiaozhou bay.The content of PHC was high in the
waters of the Jiaozhou Bay.
5. Conclusions
In May, the PHC content in the whole waters of Jiaozhou
bay reached the CategoryⅡ, and in the coastal waters of
the bay northeast, it reached the Category Ⅲ. In addition,
in other waters including the center, mouth and outside
of the bay, it reached the CategoryⅡ.
In August, the PHC content in the whole waters of
Jiaozhou bay reached the CategoryⅡand Ⅲ, and in the
coastal waters of the bay northeast, it was worse than the
Category Ⅲ. On the other hand, in other waters includ-
ing the center, mouth and outside of the bay, it reached
the CategoryⅡ. The results showed that in the temporal
scale it has been increasing from spring to; in the spacial

D. F. YANG ET AL. 112
scale, from the coastal waters of the bay northeast to
other bay waters such as the center, mouth and outside of
the bay, it decreased.
The Haibo River, Licun River and Loushan River,
their estuaries in the waters of the bay northeast, brought
a lot of industrial wastewater and domestic sewage,
leading to the higher PHC content in waters of the bay
northeast than that in other bay waters. As the rainfall in
summer obviously increased, the PHC content in the
waters of the bay northeast would become even higher.
Therefore, the PHC in Jiaozhou bay mainly came from
industrial wastewater and domestic sewage, which showed
that the protection of the environment was strengthened,
resulting in the fact that the PHC pollution would be re-
duced.
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